Killdeer Mountains

Proposed National ParkNorth Dakota
Photograph to come
All proposed National ParksKilldeer MountainsNo active campaign
Location
North Dakota
Current protection
Mostly private land; Killdeer Mountain Battlefield State Historic Site
Status
No active campaign
Tier
Tier 3 · Smaller national site
In the book
Not featured in Undiscovered America

Why should it be a National Park?

The Killdeer Mountains rise abruptly from the North Dakota plains, a pair of flat-topped buttes capped with sandstone, cut by springs and caves, and wooded where the grass gives out. They have been a landmark and a sacred place to the peoples of the northern plains for centuries.

On July 28, 1864, General Alfred Sully's troops attacked a large Lakota and Dakota encampment here in the Battle of Killdeer Mountain. The Park Service has found the battlefield likely eligible for the National Register. A park here would tell a story that almost no National Park tells.

The history of National Park Campaigns

The Killdeer Mountains were one of the most persistent park proposals of the 1920s. A group of prominent North Dakotans proposed a National Park in 1919, and bills were introduced in seven consecutive Congresses without success; the range was also considered for what became Theodore Roosevelt National Park. The land remains largely private and open to oil and gas development.

Distinct National Park attempts
1 (1919–1933, bills in seven Congresses)
Other designation attempts
1 (2010 battlefield study)

Sources

  • Edmund B. Rogers, History of Legislation Relating to the National Park System Through the 82d Congress (NPS, 1958)
  • The Dickinson Press, coverage of the Killdeer Mountain battlefield
  • Wikipedia, List of proposed National Parks of the United States
Know of a campaign? Tell us
  1. July 28, 1864

    General Alfred Sully's troops attack a large Lakota and Dakota encampment in the Battle of Killdeer Mountain.

  2. 1919

    Prominent North Dakotans propose a Killdeer Mountains National Park.

  3. 1919–1933

    Park bills go to seven consecutive Congresses, from the 66th through the 72nd.

  4. 1947

    Theodore Roosevelt National Memorial Park is established in the Badlands instead.

  5. 2010

    The Park Service identifies the battlefield as likely eligible for the National Register of Historic Places and flags about 17,340 acres for further study.